Best New Hockey Feature in a Daily Newspaper (2005)

The Denver Post's "Video Hockey League"

Rather than banish pro hockey from its pages after NHL owners locked out players, editors at the Post wisely decided to have a little fun, recruiting kids between ages eight and fourteen to square off against each other in Xbox hockey clashes. Not only has this gimmick been a great way to introduce members of the Internet generation to newspapers, but it's given hockey scribes such as Adrian Dater an opportunity to try their hand at creative fiction. In the February 28 Post, for instance, Dater had Avs GM Pierre Lacroix denying that he'd responded to a loss by shouting "Heads will roll!," insisting that he'd actually said "Let's get on a roll." Sportswriting like that takes the sting out of the work stoppage.